setting up room again, anyone try quantum digital ballasts?

[billylove]

good morning all,

nice to be back. moved to a spot that i can set up in again/finally. i have been out of the loop for the last couple years and have decided the time is now to set up my room again. i basically have what i need except i am looking at replacing my crusty old ballasts that are now probably 5 years old and i owe it to my plants to replace them. have been looking around the web at digital/electronic ballasts and there seems to be a very large difference in pricing and im concerned that the wool is gonna be pulled over my eyes. 600w seem to vary in price from $200-almost $400 each!?!?

what could the differences possibly be???

i have read that the loomatechs are supposed to be the leading brand but have also heard they are very unreliable??? can anybody comment on this.

how is a ballast unreliable, doesnt it just work or not and if not how can they be so much money??

i have also seen what appears to be a new brand called quantum digital ballasts? they seem expensive also but in some other forums they're reliability is praised and very few failures have been reported apparently. quantum also has a dimming feature that looks cool, %100,%75,%50, could be handy for hot days, solar power or small plants.

then there are some no name brand ones around for much cheaper but because they have no brand name i cant find out any clear feedback on specifically those models???

 

what should i buy??? please help if anyone has had a tried of any of these ballasts, or what digital ballast are you using that has been good???

[TheTreeBoundRat]

Hey Billy love welcome Man.

 

Cant help cept too say I use magnetic because Im in the tropics and figure Digital and humidity dont mix. But yeah good question.

 

Im wondering myself how reliable are people finding them also..

Edited February 9, 2011 by TheTreeBoundRat

[billylove]

well i bought one if anyone cares, it looks sweet, ill be playing around with it for a couple weeks before

i decide if a replace all 4 with these quantums.

 

it looks sweet, thats all i can report so far.

[Darth Desolas]

Keep us updated as you go, always keen to hear about new brands of electronic ballasts. Any chance you have a link to the model for us to check out?

 

I've got a pair of Lumatek 600w dimmable ballasts running myself, and I find them to be bloody excellent. The sheer efficiency of electricity usage is impressive, with a single ballast drawing only 2.67 amps @ 240v. Compared to a new (less than 6 month old) magnetic Grow-Lush ballast which was pulling 3.1 amps in the same setup.

 

I know a few guys with these units and I have to say I've not heard of any failures amongst them. Some have said they seem to run hot but I think that's more from the fact that the entire ballast casing is aluminium heatsink which should feel warm as it radiates away. And the powertester doesn't lie, these things are using and losing less electricity for the same or more lumenosity.

 

The only other electronic ballast I've seen at a mates garden were the NextGen units, which aside from being rather expensive were smaller and lighter than the others I'd seen, and were actively cooled with a pair of 40mm fans on the end. They were great on power, very cool to run and easy to mount, but I've always felt a little concerned that if those little fans bite the bullet the ballast could do itself some damage. Those ones also have some cool little diagnostic LED's on the side which will tell you what's going on in the case of a lamp failure.

[billylove]

i was thinking of getting lumatech but i heard they have been known to fail, i was told this by the guy at the shop. the nextgens seemed good

but are only in oz and i thought that if i was spending the money i wanted and brand name that spans the globe not just a local/chinese branded one.

 

sound like lumatech and quantums are the biggest brands in the world dare i say.

 

the other brands available in oz seem to be only available in oz, and i just felt more comforatble spend the money on a global brand??

 

who know they could all be the same, with a different name, probably wouldnt be the first time.

 

heres a link to the shop websites info on the ballast, it was the most info i could find from an oz website, i think the american power is

different to ours so i disregarded any US websites for info.

 

heres the link:

http://www.northcoasthydro.com.au/lighting-light-kits/quantum-600w-dimmable-electronic-ballast/

 

there a couple paragraphs there have a look.

 

this unit does appear to have a fan, i think im more comfortable having a fan than not, having a fan built in can only help it run cooler and better, hopefully meaning brighter and more efficient?

 

its so far only run for a couple of minutes, ill start to put it through its paces in a day or 2.

 

i did fire it, its very fast and appeared to get straight to full spectrum faster than ive seen, i also turned it up and down on the dimmer for

a minute for the hell of it, its a cool feature however i would probably never turn it down from %100, maybe in a serious heatwave only.

 

anyway, ill report more as there is more to report.

 

im also going to get a power meter to monitor it, can anyone recommend a good power monitor??

 

would love to know how close it runs to its claimed performance??

[billylove]

okay!

this thing is cool, ive been having a play and my mate came around to check it out. the dimming feature is awesome, i threw my babies under my new sont 600w at %50 the babies are kicking along much faster than under my fluro without any signs of stress. at the size they are now i would never run a 600 but didnt want to spend the money to get a 250w or 400w so just used my cloning fluro. i can see this unit seeding up my baby growth by a week.

also the ballast runs very cool. my mate has a purple digital and said his gets pretty hot, hot enough for him to often go and check it. anyway at this stage i would recommend this ballast to everyone. the dimmer feature i thought was a little gimmicky but what a handy device, its 6 lights in one, 600w,400w,250w hps and mh, what more can i say, ill be getting 3 more of these this week for sure.

also props to the new shop in coffs harbour, finally a store that actually has waht you need IN STOCK, the other guys were always waiting on something/everything. shout out to the other quantum thread, ive also bought online with glandore, they are good! i like to go into a shop and hold what im gonna get before i get it plus the suspense of waiting for post to deliver my stuff kills me! i agree that glandore is a great outfit, but now that my new local has lots of everything ill be sticking with them, given a look, northcoasthydro.com.au the boys there know their stuff pretty good and what they dont know is only a phone call away. hi-5 to the northcoasthydro boys, they have samed me alot of long drives!

pics of my ballast to come, its sweeeeeet!

[buntablade]

Thanks for the post mate, i started a thread not long ago in regards to quantum ballasts and any positive / negative feedback. This is what i needed to hear

 

Will check out ya north coast website as all prices i have seen (ebay + other hydro shops) have been nearly $300+. Don't mind spending money for a quality product but would still like to bargain around.

 

Cheers Billy.